Stocking



Feb. 20, 1951 D. M. CARMER 2,542,392

STOCKING Filed Oct. 6, 1949 AA/AX Gtfo zzzz eg Patented Feb. 20, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,542,392 STOCKING Dana M. Carmel, Middletown, Del. Application October 6, 1949, Serial No. 119,783

2 Claims. (Cl. 66-473) This invention relates generally to full-fashioned knitted hosiery and more particularly to improvements in the welt portion of the stocking as well as to the method of making the same, it being among the principal objects of the present invention to provide the stocking with a welt having a stretch characteristic enabling it to comfortably fit limbs of varying sizes.

A further object of the invention is to provide a knitted stocking with a welt in which spaced courses thereof are knit of a single yarn and the intervening courses of a plurality of yarns, the stitches formed of the single and of the plural yarns being all drawn to the same length during the knitting operation.

More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to knit the welt portion of a ladies full-fashioned stocking of three separate yarns, preferably of the same denier, the welt being knit of a consecutive series of triple courses, each series including a first course knit of only one of three yarns, a second course knit of said one yarn conjointly with a second one of the three yarns, and a third course knit of said one yarn conjointly with the third one of the three yarns.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved method of knitting the welt of a ladies full-fashioned stocking so as to increase the stretch and elasticity properties of the welt and thus insure proper and comfortable fit thereof upon the thigh of the wearer of the stockmg.

Other objects of the invention and the advantages thereof, such as relate to the knitted fabric and to the method of producing the same, will be apparent more fully hereinafter.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure l is a side view of a completed stocking constructed in accordance with and embodying the principles of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a view in section of the welt portion of the stocking shown in Figure l, and

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic representation of the stitch construction of a part of the flat knitted fabric from which the welt portion of the stocking is made.

In order that the invention and the method of carrying the same into practice may be clearly understood, there is shown, in Figure 1, a completed ladies full-fashioned stocking having a leg and foot portion ID, a welt portion II, and a rear closing seam l2. The welt, as shown in Figure 2, is doubled over in the conventional manner for a part of its length as at 13, the beginning edge of the stocking blank being joined,

cial stitch construction shown in Figure 3 which illustrates a number of the interknitted courses of the fiat, selvage-edged blank of which the welt is formed. It will be noted that this welt fabric is knitted (in the direction of the arrow shown in Figure 3) of three separate yarns 18, I9 and 29, all preferably of the same denier, in which course a is knit of yarn l8, course b is knit of yarns l8 and I9, and course a is knit of yarns i8 and. 28. In the knitting process, in course a, the yarn [8 extends from right to left; in course I) the yarn l8 and the yarn I9, which latter floats along the left edge of the stocking blank from a previous course, extends from left to right; and in course 0 the yarn l8 and the yarn 20, which latter floats along the right edge of the stocking blank from a previous course, extends from right to left. Accordingly, in course a a single yarn is knit while in the next two courses 2) and. 0, two yarns are knit. In the knitting of this first series of the three courses a, b and c, the same length of stitches are formed by the needles of the knitting machine, to which end the stitch length on the machine is initially adjusted to the proper length for the welt and maintained at that adjustment for the duration of the welt knitting.

In the next succeeding series of the three courses a, b and c, it will be noted that in course a the single yarn [8 extends from left to right; in course b the yarn is and the yarn [9, which latter now floats along the right hand edge of the stocking blank from course b, extends from right to left; and in course c the yarn l8 and the yarn 20, which latter now floats along the left hand edge of the stocking blank from course 0, extends from left to right. The welt ll thus comprises recurring series of three courses of interknitted loops each similar to the series a, b and c,the only difference between each series of three courses of interknitted loops being in the floating of the yarns l9 and 2|] at the selvage edges of the blank between courses thereof. Accordingly, the welt fabric comprises courses of knitting in which every third course is knit of a single yarn and in which the intervening two courses are each knit of two yarns,

the denier of each of which latter is preferably the same as that of the single yarn. The result of this stitch construction in the welt is that the courses containing two yarns have tighter stitches than do the courses containing single yarns due to double the weight of yarn with the same stitch length, in consequence of which the fabric of such stitch construction has imparted thereto a course-wise elasticity of considerably greater degree than that present in the conventionally knitted welt fabric.

It should be noted that in order to knit the welt fabric of the stitch construction shown in Figure 3, it is necessary to employ three yarn carriers on the machine which are so Operative.

that While the yarn I8 is fed to the needles in The knitting of the leg and foot l8 of the stocking may proceed in the conventional manner after the formation of welt H, with the use of three yarn carriers or in any other desired manner.

What is claimed as new and useful is.

1. A full-fashioned stocking having a welt of a number of knitted courses, every third course of said welt being knit of a single yarn, the courses next adjacent one side of each said third courses being knit of said single yarn and of a second yarn, and the courses next adjacent the I other side of each said third courses being knit of every knitted course of the welt fabric, the yarn I9 is fed to the needles in only the second course of each series of three successive courses, while the yarn 29 is fed. to the needles in only the third of course of each such series. The continued repetition of this method of feeding the yarns [8-, i9 and E5 to the needles for the requisite number of courses will provide a welt of the stitch construction shown in Figure 3. It will be understood that the selvage edges containing the floats of yarns i9 and as will be joined by the closing seam I2 of the stocking in the usual manner.

The invention provides an improved welt fabric in which there are recurrent courses of relatively tight and loose knitted courses for the purpose of improving the stretch and elasticity characteristics of a full-fashioned stocking welt so that it may readily adapt itself to limbs of varying thicknesses.

said single yarn and of a third yarn.

2, A fullefashione'd stocking as set forth'in claim 1 in which the stitches of each course of said welt are of substantially the same length.

-- DANA M. CARMER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,092,616 Ruckel -l, Sept. 7, 1937 2,097,763 Hemmerich Nov. 2, 1937 2,231,434 Cantner Feb. 11, 1941 2,242,054 Clausner May 13, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 475,760 Great Britain Nov. 25, 1937 

